This is a journal of my travels while I travel around East Africa in July/Aug 2001. I am now back in Boston!
Chronological Log:
July 5-7: Traveled from Boston - London - Dubai - Nairobi (whew!)
July 8: Took bus from Nairobi, Kenya, to Moshi, Tanzania. Checked into the Springlands Hotel.
July 9: Started the Mt. Kilimanjaro climb - 6 day via the Machame Trail.
July 13: Reached Uhuru peak - the summit at 19,500 feet at 6:50 AM.
July 14: Finished the Kili climb; back at Springlands Hotel in Moshi.
July 15: Took bus from Moshi to Arusha - 1,000 T.shillings. Booked next 2 trips.
July 16-19: Did 4 day safari for Serengeti / Lake Manyara / Ngorogoro Crater
July 20-22: Climbed Ol Doinyo Lengai active volcano July 23 - Aug 8: Volunteer
Aug 9-10: Chill out in Zanzibar!
Aug 11: Back in Arusha
Aug 12: Took bus from Arusha to Nairboi. Went to airport and found out that my seat had been cancelled. Emirates Airlines sucks!
Aug 13: Trying desperately to get on a flight out from Nairobi. Waited in standby fruitlessly. I managed to get a seat on Aug 14th's flight - or at least so they tell me.
Aug 14-15: After pleading/yelling/lying, I managed to get a seat!! Flew Nairobi - Dubai - London - Boston
Aug 16 (7:53 pm): Flew from Boston to Denver for Ollie's wedding. I'm sick of airports and airplanes.
Aug 21 (1 am): back in Boston!
Detailed Log:
I can't believe that I've waited so long to take a real adventure ... long overdue! When I left Boston, I didn't have anything planned out or booked, except for my plane ticket to Nairobi. I knew that that would surely add to my adventure. And amazingly, everything has worked out beautifully since arriving in Nairobi, which is sometimes referred to as Nairobbery.
East Africa is such an amazing place. I know this sounds like a cliche, but words just can't describe it. I saw both glaciers and molten lava within a 9 day period! The people are so nice and inviting!
The Kili Climb:
July 9th: Started out from the Machame gate (about 5,000 ft) around 10:45 AM. My group had one other climber, Anthony Barr, from Sydney. I met him at the Dubai airport where I saw him flipping through the Lonely Planet guide for East Africa. It was very coincidental that he was also going to climb Kili via the Machame route ... and as I had no concrete plans, I decided to copy his.
July 13th: Started out from the Barrafu Camp at 12:08 AM. It was a very cold and steep climb ... and VERY long. At 6:50 AM, I reached Mt. Kilimanjaro's summit, Uhuru Peak, at 19,500 feet. It was awesome! It is so beautiful up there ... a crater surrouded by glaciers. Of course, this is what I seem to remember - I could barely think up there - now I understand why we need oxygen! It was scary having that mindless feeling - I struggled to think and remember things.
July 14th: Reached Mweka Gate, the base of the Mweka Trail, which is what we used to descend. We descended about 14,000 feet in about 11 hours (over 2 days), which was quite hard on the knees.
Climbing Kili (as it is lovingly referred to here) was one of the hardest things I have ever done - the last ascent to the summit was much more taxing mentally than I ever imagined. I really wish that I had trained for it - both in terms of physical endurance as well as altitude climatization (living at sea level in Boston made me severely altitude-challenged). And I also wish that I had taken longer to reach the summit - 4 days was much too rough on my body - and on the last ascent, I really doubted whether I would make it. But, reaching Uhuru Peak was really gratifying knowing that I won the battle with myself and reached the top. However, upon reaching the peak, we had to stand in line to take pictures of ourselves next to the sign that said that we were at the highest point in Africa!
July 15th: Took the bus from Moshi to Arusha. What an experience! These buses are called "dala-dala" 's - they're minibuses with seats for maybe 12 people, but the driver and conductor take it as a personal challenge to stuff as many humans as possible into a single dala-dala! They slow down at every single village on the way and the conductor runs out trying to herd people into the dala-dala, yelling the destination's name. And then people have to hop into the dala-dala to get on as it speeds back up ... Once I got to the Arusha bus station, I was immediatedly accosted at the by a swarm of people wanting to take me on tours, hotels, etc ... And once I stepped off and tried to get a handle on my surroundings, I felt a hand in my left pocket - and it wasn't mine! I immediately jumped back and stared at the owner - a man probably about 18 yrs old... fortunately, he got nothing.
July 16-19th: The safari consisted of 3 different areas: the Serengetti park (yes, I missed the migration), the Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara. There were 5 of us tourists trapped in a 4x4 minibus - and we saw over 40 different animals, including lions, wilderbeest, Kori Basturd, Hippos, a leopard (which I still insist was bolted to the tree as it never left the tree even after a day), a cheetah, tons of giraffes and zebras, crocodiles, buffaloes, jackals, ostrich (talk about awkward looking animals), elephants (inlcuding one that tried to charge us), dik-diks (yes, that is the real name), monkeys, baboons, and animals I had never even heard of before.... It was really cool to see all these animals, but I didn't experience the thrill that I was expecting. The problem was that we never experienced any fear (except for that one elephant charging at us) - the animals are very comfortable seeing the safari vehicles -they never even tried to attack us nor did we ever see any sort of animals being chased or killed. For example, we came across a pack of lions. They were sleeping as we got nearer, I was waiting for them to wake up and start roaring or get excited in some shape or form. But no, the lions couldn't be bothered from their slumber. They hardly opened an eye as we parked just a few feet from them. We asked the driver whether we could do anything to wake them up - so he tried to back the minivan over them to get them to move ... which they did; the ones in the path of the minivan woke up, took a few steps to a safer place, and went right back to sleep! Neither the lions nor we were scared in any way... it was like going to a zoo! And I did take lots of pictures with my new camera.
July 22nd: Set out at 12:27 AM to climb to the crater of Ol Doinyo Lengai, which means The Mountain of God. Interestingly, the tribal Masai people still sacrifice animals there every year. Reached the crater rim at 5:21 AM and laid on the ground next to bushes to get protection from the cold wind while waiting for the sun to visit us. After about an hour, the sun finally graced us with its presence and we descended into the crater. It was magnificent ... the most amazing thing that I have ever seen. There was a large oval opening where the molten lava was going round and round as if in a toilet. There were "streams" of molten lava that I could see flowing just a few feet away. At one place, I could hear the molten lava flow directly underneath me. It was surreal. The lava formations on the surface looked like they were cheap sets from the early Star Trek shows. Some of the frozen lava rock was so thin that it actually cracked as I walked on it. The hike down was really painful - my knees were complaining viciously - I guess that they were still very sore from descending 14,000 feet a week earlier. My knees are still hurting a few days later.
July 26th: Good news: I cancelled my ticket issued for ticket back to the US so that I can stay here longer to volunteer. Bad news: the next available date is Sep. 10. I, of course, want to be back by Aug 15th so that I can make Oliver's wedding ... so, I'm going to call every day trying to secure a seat on Aug 14th - wish me luck! I left the US 3 weeks ago today - seems like I left months ago. I haven't used a cell phone in 3 weeks! I haven't used a computer for longer than 2 hours at a time or even per day! Oh, I also haven't shaved at all since I left the US - I am now sporting a beard. Everyone thinks I'm from the middle east. But, I really don't like the beard. I'll probably shave it over the next few days and try a goatee instead.
July 28th: The family I'm staying with and I went the Novotel Mount Meru hotel for Jungle Fever Night - $10 for all you can eat game meat. Yes, that's right - listen up, my vegetarian friends - I ate Zebra (aren't they so cute?), Wildebeest, Impala, and Guinea Fowl! That zebra meat was really delicious ... yes, they were all somewhat similar to chicken, but each did have a slightly different taste... Yes, I know, I'm a mean bastard for eating beautiful animals like the zebra ... but, hey, they were already dead by the time I got there - why waste the meat?? ;)
August 1st: Great news: I'm now calling the Emirates Airlines every day trying to get back to the US by Aug 15th; I found out today that I got a seat on Aug 12 from Nairobi to Dubai. And a seat from Dubai to London isn't available until Sep 11 ... so I may be stuck in Dubai for a month! Not! I'm going to go to Dubai on Aug 12 and then do whatever it takes to get a seat from Dubai to London - there are 4 flights per day, so I think that my chances are pretty good! And London to Boston is no problem.
August 2nd: Great news continues: The Emirates Airlines reservations agent was able to get me a seat on Aug 14th from Dubai to London, which means that I have a 24 hour layover in Dubai. I think that that is worst case - I am determined to get on a flight on Aug 13th from Dubai to London! That means that I will return in Boston on either Aug 13 or 14th. YAY!! But, the prospect of coming back is scary ... I think that I'm really used to the African way of life - will I be able to adjust back quickly?
August 4th: I finally shaved! For the first time in a little over a month. But, I didn't shave it all off - I left a goatee. And yes, I did take a picture of myself before I shaved - The Terrorist picture.
August 9th: I went swimming with dolphins today! That was really cool ... I couldn't touch them or get that close, but at one point they were just a few few feet away... And then I went snorkeling on a reef on the east side of Zanzibar.
August 10th: Took a Spice Tour. Zanzibar is famous for its spices (and slave trade ages ago) and I visited a plantation and tasted, saw, touched, or smelled more than 20 different spices or fruits (all picked from the source in front of my eyes), including lemon grass, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg. It was pretty interesting. I also changed hotels - from a dingy one in the historic Stone Town to one on the beach north of the city. And it cost half as much!
August 11th: I got up at 6:30 am, went for a swim in the Indian Ocean, and watched the sunrise ... it was beautiful - quiet and peaceful.
August 12th: I took the bus from Arusha to Nairobi. I had lunch at the famous Carnivore restaurant where they serve different kinds of game meat. I then went to the airport ready to leave Africa and go home. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me. I found out that Emirates Airlines had cancelled my seat! They couldn't tell me exactly what happened. But, because the flight was overbooked they told me to put my name on the standby list - I was #6. Only the first two people from the standby list got on and I was now stuck in the beautiful city of Nairobi. I found a taxi driver and asked him to help me find a hotel.
August 13th: I spent from 8:30 am to 2 pm visiting the Emirates Airlines office repeatedly trying to get a ticket home. I found out why they cancelled my seat - apparently, their computer system did not have my ticket number because my flight was booked by a travel agent in the US. And when I had been calling daily trying to get better flight dates and repeatedly reconfirming my flight, they never asked me for the ticket number! So they cancelled my seat and now I need to do standby and hope for a flight home. This is the busiest season and it's really tough to get a seat.
Adjusting back in the US: I thought that I might have a tough time adjusting back in the US, but it's been easier than I had thought. The few things that still haunt me here: I still look to my right first when crossing a road! Gotta shake that before I run out in front of a speeding car. I still have a strong appetite - I used to eat three full meals a day in Africa! But I used to get a hell of a lot more exercise; even when I was volunteering, I walked about 2 hours per day. I have to either start engaging in more physical activities here, or more likely, throttle my appetite. And the most annoying habit: I still get up between 6 am and 8 am every day. Even if I got to bed at 5 am! I think I can shake this one pretty easily.
I miss the fixed pricing of products in the US. Here, just about everything is unmarked so you have to negotiate. And as soon as they look at me and see that I'm a mazoongoo (foreigner), the prices go up 2-5x. For example, the locals told me that a certain product costs 1500 T.Shillings; I went to the market and received prices from several shops ranging from 3000 to 6000 T.Shillings! And I ended up buying it for 2000. Sometimes I just don't care to haggle - I just want to buy it and get back to doing whatever I was doing. This country really needs to offer online shopping - that would dramatically increase the efficiency of everyone here!
The Masai People The Masai are one of the many indigenous tribes in the area. You can see them everywhere - they walk around wearing these red/black checkered shawls. They are a very proud, warrior people. Ok, enough boring stuff - here's the fun stuff: They live in little villages - the chief has multiple wives, depending on how rich he is. And wealth is measured by the amount of cattle that they own. They take better care of their cows and goats then they do of themselves and their families. Their houses are made of a highly proprietary mixture of cow dung and mud. The men take off to remote areas with a herd of cattle and goats to find fertile areas to graze. Because many of these areas may not have fresh sources of water, the masai will drink a secret closely-guarded recipe (much like Coca-Cola) consisting of cow milk and cow blood. (Yes, they cut into an artery to get some good clean blood to drink) While staying next to a masai village for the Lengai climb, I had masai goat meat the last night ... YUMMY!!
In case you're wondering where I'm living: on the bus from Nairobi to Moshi, I befriended this woman who works at the UN here in Arusha for the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda). She graciously invited my to stay with her and her 13 year old son. Rosemary and Andrew are really nice - it's been great living and interacting with a local family.
I've started volunteering in 3 places now: 1) A local secondary school (the US equivalent of grades 7-12) - someone donated 8 very used computers to the school, but no one there really knows how to fix them up and use them. So, I'm repairing the 8 PC's and then I'll teach the teachers on how to teach computer skills to the students. It's sort of funny - the Ministry of Education of Tanzania has a syllabus on what every student graduating from the secondary school should know about computers. I read the syllabus and laughed - it is really outdated - for example, they really want students to really be proficient at DOS. And because the PC's don't currently work, they teach the computer class purely on a theoretical basis (and yes, they also get tested that way)! 2) Children for Children's Future (CCF) - a home for street boys from Arusha - they boys range in age from about 7 yrs old to about 15 yrs old. The organization gets children off the streets - these kids were typically abandoned by their parents - instead of begging or doing worse things, they are taught how to read and write, basic math, arts, sports, etc. And also to get them off sniffing glue and petrol. These kids also are sexually abused on the street - people will pay them money to play "video" with them ... I am spending my afternoons there every day working with these kids - teaching them stuff like karate, soccer, basketball, etc. 3) The Arusha Secondary School - helping out another volunteer implement AIDS awareness programs. Today (7/30), the other volunteer and I had a Q&A session - we answered questions about sex, condoms, AIDS/HIV, masturbation, etc. One boy asked whether masturbating resulted in dwindling his sperm supply ... Yesterday (8/1), a boy asked if it's true that [Western] scientists invented AIDS as a means to eradicate Africans... Even kids here are really sexually promiscuous - it's pretty common that they meet one weekend and the following weekend they're having sex. The ordinarily innocent word, "friend", here connotates a sexual relationship. I can't believe that AIDS awareness is so low here. There are very few national programs from the government. One of the AIDS volunteers told me that in a test done at a secondary school in Dar Es Salaam, 60% of the students were HIV positive! This will almost wipe out the entire generation as it continues to spread...
It's somtimes frustrating being a tourist here - so many street vendors come up to you to sell you some sort of trinket - from knives to posters! And they come right up to you and start talking to you like they're your friends ... they'll ask for your name, where you're from, etc.. and then they hit you with a sales pitch! It was sort of amusing the first 4-5 times, but now it's just plain damn annoying as I get hit by them everyday during my travels. I've learnt that eye contact is bad - that's when they really come after you. oh well, such is the price of being a foreigner in this land!
After hanging out with some of the locals here involved with the tourism industry, here are some things that I suspected, but could never truly confirm until now: 1) When a local person (or guide) takes you to a tourism based business (selling stuff like jewelry, handcrafts, etc or even like a hotel or restaurant), he typically gets 20% from the shop owner ... so the shop owner just passes it on to the customer! 2) At all the tourist lodges and hotels, there are two sets of prices - one for the tousit and one for the locals; take a wild guess which one is significantly higher!
Africa is really amazing. It really reminds me of India - from the dust to the people. Speaking of which, there are many Indians here - but there seems to be a bit of tension with the indigenous people. And it looks like the Indians own many of the shops - which is probably a cause of the tensions. However, the locals don't automatically identify me as an Indian, which is probably good as I ramble through this land. With my beard, everyone thinks that I'm from the middle east! Which is another incentive to shave it before I travel back to the US - I know that it'll cause me a lot of hassle with the immigration officials because I could be mistaken for a terrorist.
One thing that is disturbing here is how pervasive American TV and movies are, or rather the fact that everyone here thinks that everything depicted in them are real. Andrew, the 13 year old son of the family that I'm living with, believes everything he sees on TV - including WWF, Pantene shampoo commercials, and even Jerry Springer. And that results in everyone having huge misconceptions of the US.
Some interesting social characteristics: 1) If you beckon someone to come towards you using your hand (palm facing you and you bend your fingers towards you), you have to be careful which direction your fingers are pointing in. If they're pointing up, as we typically do in the US, that is taken as an insult - that is how they beckon to dogs. Instead, you have to point your fingers down. 2) To get soemone's attention, instead of saying "hey" or "yo" (or at least the equivalent in Swahili), people here make the "psssst" sound ... it's really funny to hear people doing that in the streets!